Resources
Free playbooks and guides for artists, labels, promoters and agencies. Built to be run, not skimmed, and most come with a PDF.
Latest playbook
The Music Audience Growth Playbook: real fans on six platforms, and not one of them bought
Every UK breakthrough we could verify started with free uploads and one community, and the viral clip came years later. So here is what Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud and X have each published about their ranking, with a date on every rule, the follows that actually pay, a 30-day system that costs nothing, a £100 experiment that tells you what your hook costs, and the growth tactics to stop paying for.
Playbooks13
Whole systems for launches, releases, promo and touring, start to finish.
- PlaybookFree PDFArtists & DJs
The Artist Fanbase Playbook: what one fan is really worth, and how to find your first 100
Spotify publishes no per-stream rate, and says so itself. So here is the ledger for everything else: one email subscriber, one ticket buyer, one vinyl buyer, one fan who buys what you make, every assumption labelled so you can swap in your own numbers. Then the fan pyramid, the four capture moments that fill a list, and a 90-day plan for your first 100 true fans.
SoundOps Team18 min read - PlaybookFree PDFVenues & Promoters
The Event Audience Playbook: own the names, not just the night
A promoter's system for turning every night into names you own - capture points, consent that holds up, segments that maintain themselves, and the sending discipline that keeps a list worth having.
SoundOps Team18 min read - PlaybookFree PDFVenues & Promoters
The Event Promotion Playbook: sell out without a final-week panic
Ten plays between a locked date and a sold-out morning after: the numbers, the ladder, the announce hour, and what to do when week one is flat.
SoundOps Team21 min read - PlaybookFree PDFArtists & DJs
The DJ Booking Playbook: why the same names keep getting booked, and yours doesn't
Promoters do not book the best DJ in the inbox. They book the safest bet on a night that costs money either way. Proof they can check, draw you can count, and the 48 hours that decide the rebook.
SoundOps Team23 min read - PlaybookFree PDFAgenciesArtists & DJs
The Tour Marketing Playbook: sell the cities that aren't London
Ten local campaigns sharing a poster, a routing and an artist. How to run all ten without ten times the work.
SoundOps Team25 min read - PlaybookFree PDFLabels
The Label Promo Playbook: know who listened, who played, who leaked
Build a tiered DJ promo pool, service it with per-recipient links instead of attachments, watermark the audio so a leak traces to one name, and turn DJ feedback into press assets. Six steps, a campaign timeline and copy-paste templates.
SoundOps Team20 min read - PlaybookFree PDFVenues & PromotersArtists & DJsLabels
The Club Night Playbook: how to open a night, settle it and do it again
Free playbook: the deal, licensing, capacity, the door, music licences, talent.
SoundOps Team24 min read - PlaybookFree PDFVenues & Promoters
The Independent Festival Playbook: getting to a second year
Independent festivals are selling out and folding anyway. Nine steps from the capacity numbers that change your legal life to the settlement, with 54 checks and every figure dated to its source.
SoundOps Team24 min read - PlaybookFree PDFArtists & DJsLabels
The Artist Release Playbook: everything a label would do for your EP, done by you
You are the label, the plugger and the marketing team. The eight weeks before your EP lands, in the order you need to do them.
SoundOps Team26 min read - PlaybookFree PDFLabels
The Label Release Playbook: run a 20-release year without dropping one
A free release planning template for labels: spacing rules, a 15-step release checklist, promo timelines and a catalogue system that compounds.
SoundOps Team21 min read
Guides13
How each channel and tool actually works, and how to run it well.
- GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsLabels
The Sample Clearance Guide: why nobody has sued you yet, and what happens when your track blows up
Sample clearance explained: the three rights one sample touches, what it costs, why it takes months, and what happens when an uncleared track starts earning.
SoundOps Team18 min read - GuideFree PDFVenues & PromotersArtists & DJsLabelsAgencies
The Event Data Guide: turn every show into a list-builder
Every show generates data before, during and after the night. The promoter's playbook for capturing buyers, scans, waitlists and turning them into sales.
SoundOps Team20 min read - GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsVenues & PromotersLabelsAgencies
The Music WhatsApp Guide: build a fan community people want to join
Channels, Groups, the Business app or the API? How artists, DJs, labels and promoters use WhatsApp to build a fan community, and what it costs.
SoundOps Team59 min read - GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsLabelsVenues & PromotersAgencies
The Direct-to-Fan Commerce Guide: vinyl, merch and downloads without the middlemen
The direct-to-fan manual: real margin maths on vinyl, merch and downloads, honest drops, the selling rules, and why owning checkout means owning the data.
SoundOps Team26 min read - GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsVenues & PromotersLabelsAgencies
The Music Industry Instagram Guide: comment funnels, DM automation and scheduling that convert
How comment-to-DM funnels, ice breakers and scheduling work on Instagram's official API, and how artists and labels turn posts into fans on their list.
SoundOps Team23 min read - GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsVenues & PromotersLabelsAgencies
The Music CRM Guide: from scattered followers to an audience you own
What a music CRM really is: contact records, per-channel consent in plain English, segments that get used, and the hygiene ritual that keeps lists earning.
SoundOps Team22 min read - GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsLabelsVenues & PromotersAgencies
The Music Smart Links Guide: the link layer of music marketing
The manual for the link layer: release links, bio pages, gig QR codes, geo-routing, capture gates and the pre-save alternative that works in 2026.
SoundOps Team23 min read - GuideFree PDFArtists & DJsVenues & PromotersLabelsAgencies
The Music Marketing Automation Guide: campaigns that run while you sleep
The six automations every artist, label and promoter should run: welcome series, event reminders, post-event follow-ups, release day and win-back flows.
SoundOps Team22 min read - GuideFree PDFLabelsArtists & DJs
The Music Promo Guide: why no one opens your promos, and how to fix it
Six ways a music promo dies: deliverability, targeting, friction, silence, list rot and leak fear. The fix ladder for labels, plus etiquette that works.
SoundOps Team17 min read - GuideFree PDFLabelsArtists & DJsAgencies
The Demo Submissions Guide: A&R inboxes without the chaos
The manual for music demo submissions: form fields that filter, a weekly listening ritual, reply templates, and a free alternative to per-pitch fees.
SoundOps Team17 min read
Articles1
Straight answers to the questions people in music actually ask.
